Just Coffee?
by ruffledparasol
Summary: It was only supposed to be one coffee. One 'bonding' session to build a 'friendship' with Miss Swan in order to appease their son, Henry. But the coffee's continue and when they turn into a weekly meeting Regina isn't so sure anymore. Is it really just coffee? (SwanQueen - fluff, angst, humor, banter, romance & general fabulous-ness)


**Cupcakes! Hello! Welcome to my new SwanQueen fic!**

**This is leisurely story for me - had the idea a while back & because of **_InquisitiveDreamer's_** constant prodding _(thank you for beta-ing!),_ it has become its own story(; but when I say leisurely story I mean it. I have a few big fics that I am working on, this one is really just a nice break from the massive writing that's been going into **WH **& **DQ** as of recently. So it probably wont be updated as quickly or as often as those stories are... however I have been known to be _persuaded _by your requests, and I _do_ quite enjoy writing these to ladies with all of their sass and banter, so you never know! _If you want to see more, leave it in the comments(:_**

**To all of my OQ readers - THIS IS A SWAN QUEEN STORY! Be forwarned, as i do not want you to stumble across this and be shocked! I ship them both! (Actually, I just ship Regina woth everything & if someone would make the 'spoon' a character option on FF then i'd ship them too!) However feel free to read, you might find you like them too! **

**Do enjoy! **

_**Ruffles**_

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><p><strong><em>Coffee Meeting no. 1<em>**

"What exactly are we doing here Miss Swan?" I ask rhetorically as I enter the coffee shop, spotting the blonde sitting in the back corner. I know exactly _why_ we're here. It was all Henry's idea.

I wasn't sure what it was exactly that had prompted him to think of this. He had said it was something about him wanting his mother's to get along, for us to stop fighting and bickering. But I assume that it has more to do with his inane fantasy that if the blonde woman and I got to know each other better then we would become friends. _Sure_.

The blonde in question shrugs her shoulders as I grab for the seat across the small bistro table from her, I steal a glance at her, and see her pursing her lips.

"Bonding." She says.

I huff. Sliding down, I try to readjust myself in order to find a somewhat comfortable position on the hard wooden chair.

"And, why couldn't we have met at Granny's, what made you pick this place?"

The blonde shrugs again. I swear if the woman does that one more time I will reach over and slap her.

"Tired of burnt coffee," She answered me.

She did have a point, the diner wasn't all that great at making quality beverages, and if it was Ruby behind the counter, well then the coffee was sure to be burnt. I'm not really altogether sure why I have had allowed the diner to stay in business for as long as it has. For the prices that the small establishment charges for the most basic of orders, one should expect a five course meal, complete with an after dinner show and private audience with the Queen!

I roll my eyes. The shop we're currently in is very different. Not as up to date as Granny's, if you can call Granny's _'up to date', _it's old and musky. But the deep, rich smell of freshly ground coffee beans helps to mask it's flaws. For what it lacks in beauty it sure makes up in aroma.

"So..." The blonde asks breaking the silence, "I hear you're a big fan of horses?"

She's grasping for straws, I can tell, she is trying to make this friendship thing happen and find something to converse about, but I'm not having it.

"Don't even try small talk with me."

The woman accross from me clears her throat, eyebrows raising and lips pursing tightly in defeat. For a moment I can't help but stare. She seems to contort her face into the most animalistic looking expressions whenever I nix her attempts at friendship. This time, she looks like a puppy dog that's just been denied it's favorite play toy.

_Poor little Puppy-Dog-Swan. _

Another akward silence falls over us. I can literally see the cogs turning around and round in her head as she sits there across from me, trying desperately to think of something to say.

It's a good minute before she speaks again.

"So, coffee?"

She stands, nodding her head towards the register across the shop in a gesture for me to follow. However I have no intention of doing so. A second later she seems to notice and stops walking, pausing for a moment mid-step, casting her long mane of dandelion blonde hair over her shoulder. When she gives me a quizzical look for still sitting at the table, I answer her.

"Yes." I say to her rhetorical request for coffee. Settling down further into the uncomfortable seat, adding, "Black. No sugar."

I only catch a second of it, but I can physically see her scoff, rolling her blue eyes as she turns back to make her way over towards the counter.

xxx

**_Coffee Meeting No. 2_**

It had been almost a week, since my entirely-too grown-up son had requested that we, his mothers' start a once weekly 'bonding session'. I had gone through with the first meeting in order to appease Henry, however I had no intention on following through with subsequent ones.

I would have thought that Miss Swan would have felt the same. Honestly, seeing as our first meeting had been such a colossal disaster, I assumed that she would have called, faking an illness or another equally pathetic excuse, in order to cancel the second. But she hadn't, and now I find myself sitting in my car, alone, with my phone grasped in my hands, debating with myself whether or not I should call her and cancel myself!

My mind is spinning, thinking of all of the better things that I have to do - _reports, laundry, __cleaning the bathroom,__ sleeping _- instead of meeting the blonde again for another long and awkward coffee meeting. I find my finger hovering over her contact information and I'm just about to click the call button until my phone buzzes in my hand.

Looking down I see that I've recieved a new message.

It's Miss Swan.

I click the box open.

_Hey, I'm here. You coming?_

I roll my eyes, releasing a growl. Of course she would be there. That's what I get for assuming. Apparently that first coffee 'bonding meeting' didn't do us any good. I still can't predict anything when it comes to Emma Swan.

I text back, sliding my key into the ignition, starting my car.

_I'm on my way._

xxx

**_Coffee Meeting No.3_**

"Coffee, Black, no sugar." She says as she pulls out her chair.

My head snaps up, I hadn't even seen her come in, much less go through the line, order and make her way over to the small, slightly battered, table in the corner that I have unconsciously seemed to continually gravitate towards for the past three weeks.

She slides a steaming cup across the small table and I eye her incredulously. When I find no seemingly malicious intent in her eyes I look back down, accepting the drink.

"Thank you." I murmer, bringing the double cupped coffee up to my lips.

She nods, sitting down.

It's another loud silence.

I'm begining to despise them more, than I do spending our time inanely talking about silly nothings. As there is nothing else in this little coffee shop of interest for me to stare off at, it leaves me only Miss Swan to look at and that's too much, even for me.

Releasing a huff, I choose to speak.

"How long are you planning on keeping up this charade, Miss Swan?"

She looks immedately confused, as if I had asked her for the exact equation to match exhaust velocity. _Really, it wasn't rocket science, _I think asI stare right back at her.

"What charade?" She finally asks.

"These coffee's." I say, "Us. _Bonding_, getting to know each other. Becoming friends, like that's ever going to happen. It's been three weeks and I've yet to see any substancial changes to our relationship."_ Wait, relationship?_ _Did I just say that in reference to Miss Swan and myself?_ I immedately backtrack in my head, justifying that it must have just been a slip of the tongue, nothing more. There was nothing between Miss Swan and I, other than our shared son.

"Well," She begins, adjusting herself to sit up taller in her seat. This time around I made sure to arrive at the small coffee shop early enough to beat her there and grab the bench, so now, it is she who is forced to sit in the uncomfortable wooden chair, crossing and recrossing her legs every few minutes to keep them from falling asleep. She continues. "Maybe if you'd let me."

"Let you what?" I question.

"Get to know you."

That statement catches me off guard. _Wait, she wasn't just showing up to these to appease Henry too? She actually wanted to get to know me?_

I answer a 'No' so fast, it's almost scary.

"_Regina_-" she says, and it sounds exactly like each time that Henry whines_ 'Mom' _when he doesn't get his way. Oh, and there's that Puppy Dog Swan face again.

"Why would you want to do that?" I immediately ask, shaking my head, confused as to why I'm still sitting here, talking to her.

"Because it will make Henry happy. And, despite what you may think, I think it's a good idea. We're both his mother's, and I don't see either of us planning on letting go of him again, therefore, we're probably going to be seeing a lot of each other in the forseeable future. So why not at least be amicable." She states.

_She __does have__ a point_, I think. I have no plans of ever letting Henry go again, so much so that I don't plan on letting him date, at least not until he's 30. However I can tell that _may_ be a subject of conversation that we're going to have to discuss one day. But not for a few years or so yet, hopefully. And if she is half as protective as I am - which I can see that she is - she won't be letting him wander out of her sight for a long time as well; so we _will_ be seeing a lot of each other. I am about to groan internally at the thought of having to see Miss Swan repeatedly for the next set of years, until Henry is grown, but she continues before I can.

"That starts with getting to know one another, properly and this seems like a pretty good way to do it. Besides, you might find that you actually like me," she says, wiggling a light brow.

I scoff at that. She was definately her mothers child. She has the same annoying quality of always thinking the best, because the very thought that I could ever grow to like this woman was preposterously asinine.

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><p><em><strong>thank you for reading! i have a few of their conversations mapped out but <span>if you have a burning request<span> for something you want to see these two discuss, leave it in the comments! MWAH! x **_


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